From the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, four former Cotuit Kettleers saw the first stage of their professional careers begin on Day 1 of the 2024 MLB Draft.

Outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt went first as the 31st overall pick to the Arizona Diamondbacks as a Prospect Promotion Incentive Pick rewarded to the club as a result of Corbin Carroll winning the Rookie of the Year in the National League in 2023.

Waldschmidt stood out as a freshman at Charleston Southern, posting a 1.044 OPS in 2022, good enough to earn him a spot on the Big South All-Freshman Team and team MVP. From there, the Sarasota, Florida, native took his talents to the SEC with the Kentucky Wildcats, where he was an integral part of two 40-win seasons in 2023 and 2024.

His best season at Kentucky came this past spring, when he slashed .333/.469/.610 in 59 games with 14 homers and 31 extra-base hits. Waldschmidt was named to the Lexington Regional All-Region team as the Wildcats made it all the way to the College World Series.

Waldschmidt brought a hot bat to Cotuit in the summer of 2023, going 5-for-10, and went yard in his first Cape League game. A knee injury suffered in left field at Stony Brook Field against the Brewster Whitecaps ended his stint with the Kettleers after just four games.

Just eight picks later in Competitive Balance Round A, the Washington Nationals used their recently accquired selection in their trade with the Kansas City Royals for Hunter Harvey on catcher Caleb Lomavita.

Lomavita has been a star dating back to his days at Saint Louis High School in Honolulu, where he was the 2021 Gatorade Hawaii Baseball Player of the Year. Playing collegiately at Cal, the athletic catcher never missed a game and was a two-time All-Pac-12 First Team member in 2022 and 2024.

Lomavita showed he was a workhorse in two seasons with the Kettleers, playing at least half the season in 2022 and 2023. He was a Cape League All-Star both seasons and took home Co-Player of the Week with Cole Mathis after posting a trio of three-hit games in a four-game span throughout the week, tallying 10 hits. Lomavita finished as a .323 hitter with a wood bat in 161 at-bats and a .302 hitter in college.

Over the span of his career, Lomaviata improved as an all-around hitter and defender. He rounded out his time with the Golden Bears by making the All-Pac-12 Defensive Team and being a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and Buster Posey Award.

Moving into the second round, two more members of the 2023 team went only four picks apart from each other, beginning with Mathis to the Chicago Cubs at No. 54 overall.

Known by the moniker “Cole-hei” given to him by his College of Charleston teammates and reinforced by Kettleers PA announcer Roy Reiss, Mathis was quite the two-way star in Cotuit. He put on his best Shohei Ohtani impersonation when he was named Co-Player of the Week with Lomavita, thanks to his nine hits recorded in five games with two home runs, 12 RBI and eight runs. In that same Week 5 of the CCBL season, Mathis pitched six scoreless innings and recorded a save at the Bourne Braves on July 26.

Mathis’ prowess on both sides of the ball led to his well-earned team MVP award, the Cape League’s End of Season All-League Team and an All-Star Game nod. Offensively, Mathis batted .318 and slugged .667, good for an OPS of 1.048 in 38 games. He crushed 11 homers with the wood bat, finishing only behind Hunter Hines of Yarmouth-Dennis for the league lead. On the mound, Mathis went 1-1 with two starts and nine appearances, collecting two saves on a pace of 23 strikeouts to just five walks.

Focusing just on being a position player this past spring with the Cougars, Mathis posted an excellent .335/.472/.650 on his way to making the All-CAA First Team and 2024 CAA All-Tournament Team. He was also NCBWA National Hitter of the Week for April 29 after an 11-for-14 series against Campbell with three homers, seven runs and 10 RBI.

Next was Emilien Pitre to the Tampa Bay Rays at pick No. 58. A teammate of Waldschmidt’s at Kentucky and Cotuit, Pitre broke into the Wildcats' lineup in 2023 by batting .318 in 61 games in his sophomore season. The second baseman made the SEC All-Defensive team and was Second Team All-Conference.

In Cotuit that summer, the native of Repentigny, Quebec, Canada, brought his sure glove and contact swing to the village, where he posted a .343 on-base percentage and slugged one triple and one homer in 73 plate appearances.

Pitre rounded out his time with Kentucky by playing in all 62 games in 2024, posting a .939 OPS helped by a surge in power that resulted in 31 extra-base hits.

The 2024 MLB Draft continues on Monday, with Rounds 3-10 streaming on MLB.com beginning at 2 p.m.

Photos by Sarah Boeke (Michigan) and Chris Jones (High Point).